About us
The main purpose of this website is to provide accurate, objective, up-to-date evidence on vaccines and vaccination in general. It also provides an overview of the mechanisms in place in the European Union (EU) to ensure that available vaccines conform to the highest standards of safety and effectiveness.
This website was developed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), in partnership with the European Commission, specifically, its Department on Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). It is an initiative of the European Union and was developed following the Council Recommendation on Strengthened Cooperation against Vaccine Preventable Diseases adopted in December 2018.
Communication and scientific experts in these organisations are involved in developing the contents (1).
Representatives from EU and EEA countries’ public health organisations were consulted for finalising the website’s contents and its language versions.
European Commission
The European Commission is the EU's politically independent executive arm. It is alone responsible for drawing up proposals for new European legislation, and it implements the decisions of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. The Commission is divided into departments that develop policies in specific areas. One of the departments is DG for Health and Food Safety, responsible for EU policy on food safety and health and for monitoring the implementation of related laws.
To improve vaccination uptake, the Council adopted a Recommendation to strengthen the EU cooperation on vaccine-preventable diseases in December 2018. The initiative aims to tackle vaccine hesitancy, improve coordination on vaccine procurement, support research and innovation, and strengthen EU cooperation on vaccine-preventable diseases.
Read more: https://ec.europa.eu/health/vaccination/overview_en and https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/health-and-food-safety_en
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
ECDC is an EU scientific agency aimed at strengthening Europe's defences against infectious diseases. The core functions cover a wide spectrum of activities: surveillance, epidemic intelligence, response, scientific advice, microbiology, preparedness, public health training, international relations, health communication, and the scientific journal Eurosurveillance.
In the area of vaccine-preventable diseases, ECDC provides regular surveillance data, e.g. the number of confirmed cases, and scientific advice on vaccines, monitors disease outbreaks and develops materials to support communication on immunisation.
ECDC also maintains the Vaccine Scheduler, an online, interactive platform showing the vaccination schedules of all EU Member States.
For more information visit: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/
European Medicines Agency
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a decentralized agency of the European Union (EU) responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU. EMA is a networking organisation whose activities involve thousands of experts from across Europe. These experts carry out the work of EMA's scientific committees.
EMA ensures the efficacy, quality and safety of vaccines. EMA and its scientific committees examine all available data and assess their benefits and risks before they are approved and while they are marketed in the EU. EMA works closely with European and international partners and shares information on vaccines and good regulatory practice.
For more information visit: https://www.ema.europa.eu/
Contact us
You can reach us via evip@ecdc.europa.eu
(1) The European Commission, ECDC and EMA have mechanisms in place in order to ensure impartiality. Staff and experts are required to declare any personal interest or any interest in any business or organisation that could compromise their impartiality. This is to ensure that staff and experts do not, in the performance of their duties, deal with matters in which they may, directly or indirectly, have a personal interest that could impair their independence.